


Mad Eyes

by Write_No_Evil



Series: Mad Eyes. Green Eyes. [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Gen, Hurt, Jason Todd Angst, Resurrected Jason Todd, no comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:25:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5788738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Write_No_Evil/pseuds/Write_No_Evil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lazarus Pit changed Jason. It gave him the ability to function on higher levels. The Lazarus Pit healed him, mending the cracks and fractures in his bone. It had even gone as far as to restore the lost teeth that had been knocked out by the criwbar. But there was no such thing as a free gift. Of all the people who should have known that, Jason, a street rat from the slums of Gotham, should have known. Whilst the Lazarus Pit gave, it also took.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mad Eyes

The Lazarus Pit changed Jason. It gave him the ability to function on higher levels, not what he had been able to do for the two years after he had dug himself from his own grave. He hadn't been able to function before his dip into the green water, surviving on muscle memory and acting similarly to a zombie. The Lazarus Pit healed him, mending the cracks and fractures in his bones that the Joker had given him before he had died. It had even gone as far as to restore the lost teeth that had been knocked out by the cross bar. But there was no such thing as a free gift. Of all the people who should have known that, Jason, a street rat from the slums of Gotham, should have known. Whilst the Lazarus Pit gave, it also took. From Jason, it took his blue eyes and black hair, leaving him with bright green eyes, the colour of the pit, and a white patch of hair above his forehead. As if to remind him, for the rest of his life, that he had died.  
  
Every time he looked into a mirror or even a surface that showed his reflection, those green eyes were the first things he saw, almost glowing in the darkness. The first, and main, reason he wore a full red helmet was because he had deiced to call himself the Red Hood, after Joker, the man who, to some extent, had made him. The second, smaller reason, that he would never tell to anyone, was because it hid his eyes and hair. Running along the rooftops of Gotham, swinging around the skyscrapers of Gotham, meant he often saw his reflection in the windows. He didn't want to see the marks of the Pit on him. It would distract him. _Trigger_ him. The big bad Red Hood couldn't be seen having a panic attack. Those were for the weak and Jason Todd didn't consider himself weak.  
  
Which was why, after being woken by a recurring nightmare of the Joker (and the swing of metal on his body), of red numbers (and beeps that echoed around an abandoned warehouse), of a bomb (and fire licking at his dying body), of a coffin (and mud falling onto his face as he desperately called out his name) he had staggered, cold and shaking, into the bathroom, his eyes too used to the dark that turning on the light would just blind and hurt him, or maybe he didn't want to see another bright flash of light in his panicked state?  
  
Flares of pain raced through his body from the healed wounds that ran across his body. It felt like they were open again, bleeding again, like they were fresh and had just been put there. The nightmare was still on his mind, his body feeling the pains of a beating from years ago. The only trace of the wounds were the scars that littered his body, in a chaotic pattern, similar to the mind of the person who gave them to him. When he had opened his eyes, about to do what Talia had taught him - look at his reflection and repeat to himself that he was here, alive, until he was calm, until he had stopped shaking, until he knew this was reality and he wasn't dead- all he could see was mad green eyes. Green eyes. Green eyes. Green hair. Crazed looked. His heart beat sped up as he was transported back to then. His eyes were crazed. The Joker's eyes were crazed. Jason's eyes were crazed.  
  
Suddenly there didn't seem to be enough air in his lungs. He began hyperventilating as terror surged through his being. He couldn't take his eyes off the green eyes. _His eyes_. Maybe it was muscle memory or maybe it was his fight and flight instincts coming in, but without even realising it, Jason's fist punched the mirror, the glass cracking upon impact. Jason stayed there, resting his weight on the fist that was on the broken mirror, panting and wheezing, trying to get his breath back. Blood ran down his split knuckles, flowing down the mirror as he looked at his reflection, looked at the eyes that stared right back at him. When he finally calmed down enough to pull his fist from the mirror, shards of it falling off his knuckles and into the sink, he noticed with shock and dismay, his eyes still looked crazed. He couldn't escape. The crazy was in him. And wouldn't ever leave.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the characters. They all belong to DC.


End file.
